Fluid actuated printer



g- 13, 1968 e. B. GREENE 3,397,403

FLUID ACTUATED PRINTER Filed Nov. 21, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG? 2A.

INVENTOR /(5:22? B. GR EN I ATTY Aug. 13, 1968 G. B. GREENE FLUID ACTUATED PRINTER Filed Nov. 21, 1966 FIG 4 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG 6 V fPREssuRE SUPPLY EORGE B. GREENE BY WMM;

INVENTOR ATTY 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 21, 1966 VII/Ill mi INVENTOR GEORGE B BY My G RE E ATTY United States Patent 3,397,403 FLUID ACTUATED PRINTER George Boyd Greene, Lafayette, Califi, assignor of ninety percent to Greene Engineering Company, a corporation Filed Nov. 21, 1966, Ser. No. 595,975 16 Claims. (Cl. 346-72) This invention relates to novel and inexpensive apparatus for translating data signals from a first code into a second code manifesting said signals in said second code. More particularly, this invention relates to a fluid-operated device having a plurality of input means adapted, as a set, to receive signals in the form of permutations of fluid pressures (vacuum or superambient), and having as its output means a carrier bearing a plurality of symbols (e.g., representations of characters corresponding to said signals, types adapted to imprint such representations, or coded arrangements of perforations or electrical contacts corresponding to said signals), said carrier means being moved by said permutations of pressures to bring symbols corresponding to said signals into coacting relationship with manifesting means (e.g., an aperture exposing only one of said representations at a time, ribbon and hammer means for causing imprints of the types corresponding to input signals to be impressed upon a record medium, stationary pipes for reading said coded perforations or stationary contacts for reading said electrical contacts).

In those arts now known by the generic term fiuidics," and more particularly in the fluidic control, computation, and information handling arts, a need has long existed for compact, simple, inexpensive means for translating signals in a first code represented by permutations of the pressures (including vacua) in a plurality of fluid conduits into signals in a second code represented by permutations of pressures in a second plurality of fluid conduits, by displacements of one or more mechanical elements, etc. Further,'the need has long existed in these same arts for compact, simple, inexpensive means for manifesting such signals in the form of displayed representations of characters corresponding thereto, imprinted representations of characters corresponding thereto, and the like. In addition, a need exists in these arts for compact, simple, inexpensive apparatus capable of efficiently carrying out both of these functions, e.g., translating Binary-Coded Decimal, bit parallel, digit serial fluidic signals into printed decimal numbers. Such a translating and manifesting device will be referred to herein as a transfestor.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide compact, simple, and inexpensive apparatus capable of displaying or printing a sequence of characters corresponding to a sequence of multi-ch-annel fluidic signals applied to its input.

Another object of the invention is to provide compact, simple, inexpensive apparatus capable of translating multi-channel fluidic signals in a first code into multichannel fluidic signals in a second code.

Another object of the invention is to provide compact, simple, inexpensive apparatus capable of accepting multichannel fluidic signals and manifesting these signals as symbols in the form of printed characters, successively displayed representations, etc.

Another object of the present invention is to provide simple, compact, inexpensive means for manifesting in a plurality of forms the characters corresponding to multi-channel fluidic signals successively applied thereto, e.g., displayed representations of said characters and printed representations thereof.

Another object of the present invention is to provide compact, simple, and inexpensive means capable of accepting electrical signals provided within an electronic or electromechanical calculating or computing device in the internal code of said device and either displaying sequences of characters corresponding to sequences of said signals, printing sequences of characters corresponding to sequences of said signals, or both.

Another object of the invention is to make possible an inexpensive mobile teleprinter for use in police digital radio communications systems, and the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide inexpensive storage capacity for signals in a fluidic coded data transmission and handling system (e.g., calculator, computer, data processing device, or the like).

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious, and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention, accordingly, comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts, which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a signal translating, print-out, and display device embodying the invention;

FIGURE 1a is a partial perspective view of a tape code translating device according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a code piston and symbol carrier assembly adapted to be employed in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 2a illustrates a small area of the outer wall of the code piston of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 3 shows the outer wall of the code piston of FIGURE 2 as developed on a plane, and the associated input pipes and ports;

FIGURE 4 is a central sectional view of a signal translating and manifesting device (transfestor) embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 5 represents a fluidic system according to the present invention for displaying seriatim the numerical characters perforated into a tape;

FIGURE 5a illustrates a modification of the device of FIGURE 1 which is incorporated in the signal translating and manifesting apparatus of FIGURE 5 to adapt it to the application shown therein;

FIGURE 6 illustrates the use of the present invention in, manifestin (i.e., displaying or printing) electrical signals, as in an electronic desk top calculator.

Referring first to FIGURES l, 2, 2a, 3, and 4, the signal translating and manifesting apparatus of the embodiment shown therein, designated generally by the numeral 10, comprises a cylinder 11 which is shown in FIGURES 1 through 4 as being circular in cross-section, though cylinders of other than circular cross-section may be used in carrying out the present invention, and will be preferred in certain applications of the present invention, e.g., where it is necessary to locate a plurality of the devices of the invention in close proximity in order to imprint a line of closely spaced characters thereby, One end of cylinder 11 is closed by a cap 12 which contains a guide slot 13 the function of which will be described hereinafter. Cap 12 functions, inter alia, to maintain a pressure differential between variable volume chamber 14 defined by cylinder 11 and its associated piston and the ambient atmosphere which, in most applications, exists outside cylinder 11.

Mounted upon cap 12 is a plate 16 through which passes a generally rectangular aperture 17. As described hereinafter, aperture 17 serves to designate the particular character corresponding to the input signals currently being supplied to the device.

A plurality of input ports 20-1 20-8' are provided at locations substantially equidistant from the opposite ends of cylinder 11. Each of these input ports passes through the wall of cylinder 11, thereby providing communication between variable volume chamber 14 and a corresponding input pipe 21-1 21-8. For instance, as seen in FIGURE 4, port 20-1 provides communication between chamber 14 and input pipe 21-1, when aligned with a code aperture as explained hereinafter.

While input pipes 21-1 21-8' are arranged parallel to the axis of cylinder 11 in the embodiment of FIG- URES 1 through 4, other arrangements of input pipes may be preferred in adapting the invention to certain applications. For instance, input pipes 21-1, 21-8' may, in some applications, be short stub pipes extending radially outward from the surface of cylinder 11. These short stub pipes, like the parallel input pipes shown in FIGURES l and 4, will be used to provide communication with chamber 14 via input ports 20-1 21-8'. In a typical application of the device of the invention the input pipes will be interconnected with a source of multi-channel pressure signals by means of flexible tubing which may be affixed to the input pipes merely by frictional engagement, as when the fluid pipes are of slightly smaller diameter and forced thereover, or may be sealed to the input pipes by cementing.

The term pressure as used herein generally denotes absolute pressures, rather than gauge pressures. That is to say, the term pressure as used herein may refer to pressures less than ambient atmospheric pressure as well as pressures greater than ambient atmospheric pressure. As will be apparent from the following description, devices embodying the present invention may be constructed which are operated by superambient pressure signals as well as subambient pressure signals. Also, the reference pressure level to which said pressure signals are referred may be made other than ambient atmospheric pressure, as by enclosing cylinder 11 in a pressurized jacket.

Also communicating with chamber 14 is a vent pipe 22, a port 23 in the wall of chamber 11 being provided for intercommunication between chamber 14 and the interior of vent pipe 22. As may be seen in FIGURE 4, port 23 is considerably larger than ports 20-1 20-8, and vent pipe 22 is considerably larger than input pipes 21-1 21-8'. As explained hereinafter, vent pipe 22 and vent port are made larger than the input pipes and ports in order that chamber 14 may be rapidly purged of any pressure differential between its interior and the ambient atmospheric pressure outside cylinder 11, thereby returning device 10 to its indication, or in some applications such as that illustrated in FIGURES and 5a, to its blank indicating position in which no character is indicated as that corresponding to signals currently being received by the device via input pipes 21-1 21-8'. v

A hollow piston 25 is slidably disposed in close-fitting relation within cylinder 11. A symbol carrier member 26, of generally rectangular cross-section in the embodiment of FIGURES 1 through 4, is centrally afiixed to the closed end of hollow piston 25 and projects through guide slot 13 in cap 12. Guide slot 13 closely embraces symbol carrier 26, both to reduce leakage between chamber 14 and the ambient atmosphere outside cylinder 11 and to hold piston 25 against rotation with respect to cylinder 11. In certain applications of the instant invention it will be found desirable to aflix to the end of symbol carrier 26 remote from cylinder 11 a semi-flexible extension 27 (FIGURES l, 2, and 4). As seen in FIGURES l and 2, symbol carrier 26 carries a plurality of character symbols 28. The set of character symbols borne by symbol carrier 26 in the embodiment of FIGURES 1 through 4 is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, though the present invention is not limited to display of the ten Arabic numerals, but may also be used to manifest alphabetic characters, either in addition to the Arabic numerals or without the Arabic numerals, in addition to any other desired arbitrary or con- 4,, ventional symbols. Also, it will be apparent that the device of the present invention may be arranged to manifest sets of characters comprising more or less characters than the ten characters of the device of FIGURES 1 through 4.

Extension 27, when used, carries a plurality of types 29 in a linear array which corresponds closely with the linear array of character symbols 28 upon symbol carrier 26. That is, as may be seen in FIGURE 1, types 29 are arranged in the same order as character symbols 28, and are spaced from each other by the same distance as the corresponding ones of character symbols 28. Each one of the types 29 is located upon the upper face of a projection 30 which extends upward from extension 27. Alternatively, projections 30 may be thought of as being integral with extension 27, or forming a part thereof, and being separated by cuts 31. Considered from either point of view, it may be seen that the separation between projections 30 makes extension 27, as a whole, far more flexible than would be the case if cuts 31 were not present. This flexibility of extension 27 makes it possible to deflect any one of the types 29 into printing contact with a record member, e.g., by means of a hammer in the case of impact printing, or a roller or the like when pressure printing is employed.

In lieu of, or addition to, symbol carrier 26 and extension 27, or both of them, piston 25 may drive a code perforation carrier 26 (FIGURE 1a) pierced by code perforations 32 which are adapted to coact with passages 33 in tracker bar 34 to translate, say ASCIE code perforations to readings in the internal code of the Letteriter automatic typewriter.

As may now be seen by reference to FIGURES 1 and 4, translation of symbol carrier 26 will cause selected ones of the linear array of character symbols 28 to be displayed in aperture 17 of plate 16. Since, as hereinafter explained, the application of particular permutations of pressure signals to input pipes 21-1 21-8' causes hollow piston 25 and symbol carrier 26 to be translated by corresponding amounts, it follows that by selecting correct locations for the character symbols 28 on symbol carrier 26 it is possible to arrange that the character symbol corresponding to any permutation of pressures applied to the input pipe will appear in window 17, and such is done in providing devices according to the present invention. As will be clear from FIGURE 1, types 29 are invariably translated by the same amount as character symbols 28 and thus, if types 29 are arranged in a linear array similar to the linear array of character symbols 28, as described above, then types 29 will be moved to a fixed printing position at the same time that character symbols are moved into aperture 17 in plate 16. The provision of a print hammer, a roller, or the like, an inked ribbon carrier, and means for feeding and supporting a record medium, for coacting with any type momentarily located at the fixed printing position, are all within the scope of one having ordinary skill in the art, and, for that reason, such means are not described or shown in detail herein.

As best shown in FIGURE 4, hollow piston 25 comprises an imperforate end wall 35 to which is centrally affixed symbol carrier 26 as described hereinabove. The interior of hollow piston 25 is a generally cylindrical cavity 36 having an open throat 37 at the end thereof opposite end wall 35. Generally snugly fitting within cavity 36 is a coil spring 38 which extends fro-m the inner face of end wall 35, outwardly through throat 37, and into contact with end wall 39 of cylinder 11, all as shown in FIG- URE 4. Thus, as may best be seen in FIGURE 4, coil spring 38 serves to maintain hollow piston 25 in such position within chamber 14 that its closed end 35 contacts the inner surface of cap 12, except when piston 25 is drawn away from that position in the manner to be explained hereinafter. That positon into which piston 25 is normally biased by coil spring 38 will hereinafter be called the home position of piston 25.

As only partially shown in FIGURES 2 and 4, the outer wall of piston 25 is pierced by a plurality of ports 40. The convention is adopted herein with respect to ports 40, i.e., the ports passing through the outer wall of piston 25, that where reference is made to these ports in general, and not to a specific one of these ports, the reference numeral 40 should be taken to refer to any one of said ports, more than one thereof, or all of them. On the other hand, when it is desired to refer to a single particular port 40' an extended reference numeral is used having two hyphenated sufiixes. Thus, in FIGURE 3, which shows the outer wall of piston 25 developed into a plane, it may be seen that 40-1-1 and 40-5-2 are two different ports. Either of these ports, or both of them, may be referred to as 40 when it is not desired to distinguish between them. Similarly, any of the ports in the outer wall of cylinder 11 may be referred to as 20, or a plurality of the same may be referred to as 20, except when it is desired to refer to specific ones of these ports, in which case the extended reference numerals 20-1 through 20-8 are used. Also, such a system of extended reference numerals is used with respect to the input pipes 21, the extended reference numerals 21-1 through 21-8' being used when it is desired to distinguish between input pipes 21.

The configuration and relative placement of ports 40 is shown in FIGURE 2a. FIGURE 2a shows a portion of the outer surface of hollow piston 25 including all or part of ports 40-4-2', 40-4-4, 40-5-2', 40-5-4, 40-6-2, 40-6-4, and 40-7-4. Comparing the height (larger dimension) of the ports 40 shown in FIGURE 2a with the vertical spacing therebetween, i.e., parallel to said larger dimension, and to the sliding axis of the piston, and keeping in mind that ports 20 are slightly taller than ports 40, it may be seen that any input port 20, when passing over two vertically adjacent ports 40 (e.g., 40-6-4 and 40-5-4) as piston 25 moves in cylinder 11 will come into communicating relationship with one before going out of communicating relationship with the other. Thus, ports 20 and are so configured and arranged that any port 20 passing two vertically adjacent ports 40 must for a finite period overlap both of the ports 40. As will be clear from FIGURE 4, each port 20 is maintained in registration with one column of ports 40 by the close-fitting relationship between symbol carrier 26 and guide slot 13.

From the above it may also be seen that the horizontal row, or set of ports 40 corresponding to any decimal number output (e.g., 40-5-1, 40-5-2, 40-5-4, 40-5-8',

corresponding to decimal number output 5, FIGURE 3) need not be arranged in linear array, so long as ports 40 and ports 20 are all arranged in the same array, while each vertical set, or column, of ports 40 (e.g., 40-1-8' 40-5-8 40-0-8, FIGURE 3) must be arranged in a line parallel to the sliding axis of piston 25. Further, as will become evident hereinafter, any pair of horizontal rows of ports may be interchanged as desired, provided only that the corresponding character symbols 28, types 29, and sets of code perforations 32 are correspondingly interchanged, without affecting the operation of the device of the invention.

As shown by the horizontal dashed line in the lower portion of FIGURE 3, recess 23' in the lower portion of cylinder 11 extends far enough up from end 39 to assure that even when piston 25 is at the bottom of cylinder 11 vent port 23 communicates with cavity 36 via enough ports 40 to assure rapid venting when pipe 22 is opened.

While piston 25 is shown herein as hollow, it may also be made solid, allowing, of course, for spring 38. The expression solid in the previous sentence is not to be understood to be limited to high density materials, since cellular materials such as Styrofoam may be advantageously used to reduce the mass of a solid piston while at the same time limiting the volume which must be evacuated in order to displace the piston over a given distance. For example, the volume to be evacuated may be reduced by disposing a cellular material cylinder within spring 38, said cylinder clearing spring 38 sufliciently to provide fluid passage from ports 40 to chamber 23'. A thin-walled, sealed hollow cylinder may alternatively be used. It will be appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art that optimum response may be secured by selecting the optimum balance of piston mass and volume evacuated to suit a given application.

In FIGURE 3, the arrangement of the entire set of ports 40 passing through the outer wall of hollow piston 25 may be seen. As noted above, only a few of the ports 40 are shown in FIGURES 2 and 4, though it is to be understood that the entire set of ports 40 indicated in FIGURE 3 will be found in the outer wall of the hollow piston actually employed in an operative embodiment of the invention.

The particular arrangement of ports 40 shown in FIG- URE 3 is dictated by the function served by the device of the embodiment of FIGURES 1, 2, 2a, 3, and 4, viz, the translation of four-place binary signals consisting of permutations of pressures and obturations into displayed or printed decimal digits, or other binary codes. When, however, a device according to the present invention is designed to fulfill some other function, e.g., the translation of, say, ASCIE code into the code unique to the Letteriter automatic typewriter described in United States Patent 3,219,165, then the arrangement of ports in the hollow piston will be considerably different. In that case, for example, there will be sixteen columns of ports parallel to the axis of symmetry of the piston, rather than eight columns as shown in FIGURE 3. The use of sixteen columns of ports results from the use of eight channels of perforations in the perforated tape code to be translated. Also, in this exemplary case, there will be fifty-four horizontal rows of ports, i.e., sets of ports all lying in the same planes perpendicular to the axis of the piston, rather than the ten horizontal rows of ports shown in FIGURE 3. The fifty-four horizontal rows of ports in the exemplary case will, of course, correspond to the fifty-four codes, both printing and functional, employed in the abovesaid Letteriter automatic typewriter. It will also be apparent that, in the exemplary ASCIE-to-Letteriter code transistor, the number of input ports 20 will necessarily be increased to 16, as will the number of input pipes 21. A translation device of this type is shown in part in FIGURE 1a.

The output code involved in translation by the exemplary device may be changed at will if the symbol carrier is made demountable and replaceable with a dif ferently coded symbol carrier, or both input and output codes may be changed at will if the piston and symbol carrier are made demountable and replaceable.

Returning to FIGURE 3, it may be seen that each of the ports 40 is represented by a small rectangle. Ports 20 passing through the outer wall of cylinder 11 are also represented in FIGURE 3, wherein they are indicated by taller rectangles of the same width as the rectangles representing ports 40. Thus, in the lower left-hand corner of FIGURE 3 there is one tall, rectangular symbol representing port 20-1. Immediately to the right of this rectangle representing port 20-1 may be seen a similar rectangle upon which is disposed one of the smaller rectangles representing a port 40. Thus, the rectangular symbol second from left in the bottom row of rectangular symbols in FIGURE 3, having cross strokes located near its upper and lower ends, represents both port 20-1' and port 40-0-1'. In the bottom row of FIGURE 3, then, may be seen representations of all eight ports 20-1 through 20-8; and there may also be seen ports 40-0-1', 40-0-2, 40-0-4', and 40-0-8, aligned with ports 20-1', 20-2', 20-4, and 20-8', respectively. This particular alignment of ports 20 and 40 prevails, of course, only when hollow piston 25 is in its home position. As explained hereinafter, other ones of the horizontal rows of ports on piston 25 will be brought into alignment with ports 20 by the application of various permutations of pressure signals to input pipes 21.

As may also be seen in FIGURE 3, each of the input pipes 21 is represented therein by a heavy, solid line extending outward from its corresponding port and downward to the lower edge of the figure.

The arrangement of ports in the piston of a device accor-ding to the present invention may be determined as follows.

In the most common applications of the present invention there will be given a set of symbols to be represented on the symbol carrier, and a corresponding set of n-bit binary numbers, called herein the binary equivalents of the respective symbols. For instance, the set of symbols in connection with which the device of FIGURES 1 through 4 was designed is the set of one-digit decimal numbers 0 through 9, while the binary equivalents thereof are the well known equivalent four-bit binary numbers 0000 through 1001.

As is well known, every binary place of a binary num ber may be conceived of as having a multiplying factor called a weight associated with it, such that the sum of the products of each bit and its associated weight equals the equivalent decimal number. The respective binary places of said binary equivalents are identified herein by their Weights, called index numbers. E.g., the index number corresponding to the third binary place to the left of the binary point (implied) in the binary equivalents of the symbols found on the symbol carrier of the device of FIGURES 1 through 4 herein is 4.

For each of the n binary places of the binary equivalents in a given embodiment of the invention there are two columns of ports on the piston. E.g., the binary equivalent of the symbols carried on the symbol carrier in the device of FIGURES 1 through 4 have four binary places, and thus there are eight columns of ports on the developed piston shown in FIGURE 3. The index number of the corresponding binary place is used to designate the pairs of columns. E.g., the pairs of columns of ports in FIG- URE 3 are each designated by an index number set above the columns of the pair. Thus, the rightmost pair of columns of ports in FIGURE 3 corresponds to the binary place of the binary equivalents having the weight 8.

In each pair of columns of ports, the column nearest the columns having the next higher index number is arbitrarily said to be of binary weight 7, while the column adjacent those having the next lower index number is said to be of binary weight 0. Thus, in FIGURE 3, the input pipes and ports having unprimed reference designations coact with the columns of binary weight 0, while those having primed reference designations coact with the columns having binary Weight 7.

Each row of ports corresponds to one symbol on the symbol carrier, and thus to one binary equivalent number. (In FIGURE 3, the number set to the left of each row.)

Given the above described conventions, the arrangement of ports in any row may be determined by (l) finding the binary complement of the binary equivalent of the symbol represented by that row, and (2) in every pair of columns having a common index number, locate a port in the column of weight 0 if the binary place of the complement having the same index number contains the bit 0, or in the Weight 7 column if binary place of the complement having the same index number contains the bit 7.

The onput signal permutation of obturations and vacua corresponding to any symbol on the symbol carrier may be applied by (1) For every 7 bit in the binary equivalent, evacuate the corresponding primed input lines and block every corresponding unprimed input line.

(2) For every 0 bit in the binary equivalent, evacuate the corresponding unprimed input lines and block every corresponding primed input line.

Before considering the operation of the device of the invention, attention is directed to a typical print-out mechanism which may be associated with extension 27 of symbol carrier 26 in order to imprint the identity of successively read codes upon a record member. This typical imprinting mechanism is shown in the upper portion of FIGURE 4. Going to FIGURE 4, it may be seen that the first component of this imprinting mechanism is a shield 45 having an aperture through which one, and only one, of the types 29 may be brought into contact with a record medium 46, such as a ticker tape. The particular type 29 positioned in the aperture in shield 45 will, as described hereinafter, be determined by the permutation of pressure signals applied to input pipes 21. Transport means for record medium 46 may be supplied by those having ordinary skill in the art, and so are neither described nor shown herein. On the opposite side of record medium 46 from shield 45 is provided an inked ribbon of the kind commonly employed in typewriters, and the like. Since transport means for successively advancing such an inked ribbon may be supplied without invention by one having ordinary skill in the art, such a ribbon transport mechanism is not shown or described herein. Finally, the imprinting mechanism includes a hammer, or pressure pad, 48, adapted to rapidly strike, or firmly press, ribbon 47 and record medium 46 against one of the types 29 through the aperture in shield 45. Since driving and synchronizing means for such a hammer, or pressure pad, may easily be supplied by one having ordinary skill in the art they are not shown or described herein. It will also be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art that, due to the 'flexibility of extension 27, alternative means may be employed to printingly drive the types 29 through the aperture in shield 45, and that ribbon 47 may be located on either side of record member 46.

Operation The operation of the present invention may best be understood by reference to FIGURE 3 taken in conjunction with FIGURE 4.

As explained hereinabove, hollow piston 25 of FIGURE 4 is shown developed on a plane in FIGURE 3. In FIG- URE 3 a complete set of piston ports 40 is shown, the location of a complete set of input ports 20 with respect to ports 40 when piston 25 is in its home position is shown, and the input pipes 21 are indicated.

As may be seen in FIGURE 4, piston 25 is normally biased into its full upward, or home, position by coil spring 38. Thus, when vent pipe 22 is open to ambient atmosphere, piston 25 will be located at its upper position wherein its closed end 35 is butted against the inside of cap 12. This condition of operation is shown in FIGURE goby the location of the rectangles indicating input ports By way of example, the operation of the device of FIGURES 3 and 4 to display and print the numeral 7 will now be described. As pointed out hereinabove, the operation of the device of the invention to display and print a character requires the supplying of a corresponding permutation of pressures and obturations to the full set of input pipes 21 and the blocking of vent pipe 22. The expression pressures, as pointed out hereinabove, embraces both vacua and superambient pressures, though the embodiments shown and described herein are adapted to be operated by permutations of vacua and obturations. Thus, in the device of FIGURES 1 through 4, the term permutation of pressures, as used directly above, may be more narrowly stated as permutation of vacua. On the other hand, devices according to the invention may be supplied by those having ordinary .skill in the art which, narrowly stated, operate on permutations of superambient pressures. In these devices spring operation and home position will be reversed.

It is an operating requirement of the device of the invention that those input pipes 21 to which vacuum is not supplied must be blocked, or obturated. As Will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, such permutations of pressures, and blocking of the non-pressurized pipes, can be provided by several types of expedients well known in the fluidics arts, e.g., check valves, fluidic flip-flops of the type shown in FIGURE 5, perforated tape coact'ing with a plurality of reading pipes, as also shown in FIGURE 5, etc.

By way of example, the application of the predetermined permutations of pressures and obturations corresponding to the decimal number 7 to the input pipes 21 of the device of FIGURES 1 through 4, and the resulting appearance of the numeral 7 in window 17, will now be considered.

For reasons which will become apparent when the operation of the embodiment of FIGURES 1 through 4 has been fully considered, the code of pressures and obturations corresponding to any output character may be derived by considering the corresponding set or horizontal line, of ports 40 in piston 25, as developed in FIGURE 3. The inputpipes to be obturated are those corresponding to ports in this set, while the input pipes 21 tobe evacuated are those not corresponding to ports in this set. Thus, to operate the device of FIGURES 1 through 4 to display the numeral 7 requires that input pipes 21-1, 21-2, 21-4, and 21-8' be obturated, while input pipes 21-1, 21-2', 21-4, and 21-8 are evacuated.

Applying this code signal to input pipes 21 as shown in FIGURE 3, and considering piston 25 to be in the home position as indicated in FIGURE 3, it will be seen that the variable volume compartment 14 (FIGURE 4) defined by cavity 36 Within piston 25 and the walls of cylin der 11 (FIGURE 4) will be initially evacuated by way of piston ports 40-0-1, 40-0-2', and 40-0-4, each of which is in registration with an input pipe 21 being evacuated. Evacuation of this variable volume compartment, however, may be seen to cause piston 25 to move downward in FIGURE 4 against the action of coil spring 38 by reason of the force of ambient atmospheric pressure on end 35 thereof, the fit between the outer surface of piston 25 and the inner surface of cylinder 11 being sufliciently good to prevent immediate leakage of ambient atmosphere into said variable'volume compartment. (Said fit must also be sufficiently good, of course, to prevent immediate leakage between adjacent ports 40.) As evacuation of said variable volume compartment 14 proceeds through the ports 40-0-1, 40-0-2, and 40-0-4', an amount of deflection of piston 25 is reached whereat ports 20 commence to overlap the ports of the 9 set. At this time the evacuation of said variable volume compartment through ports 40-9-2, 40-9-4', and 40-9-8'begins to take place. Thus, piston 25 will continue to move downward as seen in FIGURE 4, even after input ports 20 are no longer in registration with the piston ports 40 of the set. However, evacuation through piston ports 40- 9-2, 40-9-4, and 40-9-8 will continue to take place until some of ports commence to overlap ports of the 8 set, and will continue thereafter. When ports 20 begin to overlap the piston ports 40 of the 8 set, evacuation of said variable volume compartment will begin to take place through ports 40-8-1', 40-8-2', 40-8-4, and 40-8-8, and will continue even after piston has retreated so far into cylinder 11 that ports 20 no longer in registration with any of the piston ports of the 9 set. Shortly thereafter, due to continued evacuation of said variable volume compartment by way of piston ports 40-8-1', 40- 8-2, 40-8-4', and 40-8-8, piston 25 will be retracted sufliciently into cylinder 11 so that input ports 20 will commence to overlap the piston ports 40 of the 7 set. Said variable volume compartment 14 cannot be evacuated by way of any of piston ports 40 of the "7 set, since all of the piston ports 40 in that set are in registration with obturated input pipes 21, and all of the evacuated input pipes 21 are in registration with locations whereat ports do not exist. Thus, compartment 14 will continue to be evacuated via ports 40-8-1', 40-8-2', 40-8-4', and 40-8-8 until piston 25 has retreated so far into cylinder 11 that input ports 20 are no longer in registration with any of the 40-8 ports. At this time further evacuation of compartment 14 cannot take place, and the position of piston 25 along the length of cylinder 11 will stabilize at such a location that the numeral 7 on symbol carrier 26 will be seen through window 17, and the type 29 corresponding to numeral 7 will be positioned at the aperture in shield 45 (FIGURE 4). At this location piston 25 can be moved no further into cylinder 11 because exacuation cannot take place through any of the ports of set 40-7 for the reason explained above, while piston 25 cannot be impelled further out of cylinder 11 by the force of spring 38 because any increment of such motion will result in bringing a part of each of the piston ports 40-8-1', 40- 8-2, 40-8-4, and 40-8-8 into registration with evacuated ones of input ports 20, resulting in evacuation of compartment 14 and the retraction of piston 25 into cylinder 11 until evacuation via ports of the 40-8 set discontinues.

Thus, it may be seen that, for each such set of piston ports 40-x-x corresponding to a given character It, a particular, easily determined, permutation of obturations and vac-ua may be applied to the full set of input pipes 21 which will result in displaying the character It in window 17, and bringing the type 29 corresponding to the character n into print position in the aperture of shield 45 (FIGURE 4). The combinations of obturations and vacua necessary to display characters other than 7 may be derived from FIGURE 3 as explained hereinabove.

For the reasons given above, this deflection of piston 25 to the corresponding n position will continue as long as the n permutation of obturations and vacua is applied to input pipes 21, and vent pipe 22 is blocked. The return of piston 25 to its home, or zero-indicating position may be accomplished by opening all of the input pipes 21 to ambient atmosphere, though in the usual application of the invention it will be found more desirable to open vent pipe 22 to ambient atmosphere.

Synchronizing means for operation of print hammer 48 and blocking of vent pipe 22 are not described herein because the provision of such is well Within the scope of one having ordinary skill in the art.

The selective positioning of piston 25 corresponding to any one of a number of permutations of vacua and obturations may be utilized to serve several desirable ends. First, the displacement of piston 25 and its attached symbol carrier 26 may be used to display selected characters in window 17. Second, displacement of piston 25 and its immediately attached print extension 27 may be utilized to print images of types displaced into the aperture in shield 45 (FIGURE 4). Thus, as shown in FIGURE 1a, displacement of piston 25 and its attached symbol perforation carrier 26 may be utilized to successively bring selected sets 32 of permutations into registration with reading passages 33 in tracker bar 34, thereby, for instance, translating the code perforations in a perforated tape, which code perforations are in a first code and are utilized to determine the vacua and obturations applied to input pipes 21, into a second code which is read, character-by-character, from the code perforations in carrier 26' via reading passages 33.

Other means of utilizing the selected deflection of piston 25 will appear to those having ordinary skill in the art, when taught by the present disclosure; e.g., provision of metallic elements in place of the perforations of symbols 32 in FIGURE 1a, and the use of cooperating pairs of feelers in place of each one of the reading passages 33, whereby output electrical code indications will be derived from the shoring together of certain of said pairs of feelers.

Finally, it will be within the scope of those having ordinary skill in the art, as taught hereby, to provide multicharacter storage means according to the present invention ill by providing a simple detent capable of holding, say, code perforation carrier 26 in place between its successive deflections by successive tape code permutations, i.e., holding carrier 26' in place even though vent 22 is open, or no code permutations are applied to input pipes 21, or both. Such a simple detenting action may be provided by equipping code perforation carrier 26' with a complete column of centrally located perforations corresponding generally to the sprocket holes provided in the usual form of perforated tape, and arranging for a spring-loaded pin to be engaged with one perforation of said column except when said pin is withdrawn by a vacuum device during application of a new input signal to input pipes 21. Such a vacuum solenoid may be operated, of course, by the same mechanism used to control the blocking and unblocking of vent pipe 22. Vacuum supplies for carrying out the successive operations of piston 25, etc., may, of course, be supplied by one of ordinary skill in the art, and thus are not shown or described in detail herein.

Application of the invention Referring now to FIGURE 5, there is illustrated therein one of many possible applications of the present invention.

The data reading, translating, and manifesting system of FIGURE generally comprises: a transfestor 50 embodying the present invention and generally similar to the transfestor of FIGURES 1 through 4; a spring valve 51 of the type shown and described in my co-pending United States patent application Ser. No. 397,988 arranged to valve the vent pipe 22 of transfestor 50; a device 52 of the type sometimes known in the prior art as a vacuum solenoid, arranged to actuate spring valve 51 as hereinafter described; a device 53 of the type known in the prior art as logic block, comprising four bi-stable fluidic devices and adapted to convert multi-channel signals into pressure and obturation signals of the type needed to operate transfestor 50; and a cooperating plurality 54 of reading pipes, four of which are designated I, II, IV, and VIII, respectively, and four of which communicate with a common pipe C. As will be evident to those having ordinary skill in the art on consulting FIGURE 5, the open ends of said reading pipes are adapted to coact with perforations 55 in perforated tape 56 by reason of the location of said open ends closely spaced above and in alignment with the channels of the perforated tape, when tape 56 is advanced past pipes 54 by means which may be supplied by one having ordinary skill in the art without the exercise of invention.

Transfestor 50 differs from the transfestor of FIG- URES 1 through 4 only in that it is adapted to display a blank through window 17, in addition the numerals 0-9 which can be displayed by transfestor 10. This addition of a blank indication to the device of FIGURES 1 through 4 is made possible by lengthening piston by an amount sufficient to accommodate an additional character to be displayed and, as shown in FIGURE 5a, piercing piston 25 (then designated 25') with an additional set of ports 40B1 40-B-8, this additional set of ports being equal in number to and capable of being registered with input ports 20, and being located at the end of piston 25 adjacent the 40-0 set of piston ports. In addition to lengthening piston 25 by a one character increment, as described above, an equal increment is added to the side wall of cylinder 11 immediately beneath cap 12, and an equal increment is added to symbol carrier 26 at its junction with end wall of piston 25. Thus, it is arranged that the full set of piston ports -B is in registration with input ports 20 when piston 25 is maintained in its home position by coil spring 38, and that a blank appears in window 17 when piston 25 is in its home position.

Since, as explained hereinabove, piston 25 will be in its home position when vent pipe 22 is open, and since the vent pipe 22 of transfestor shown in FIGURE 5 is valved to ambient atmosphere by means of spring valve 51, it follows that transfestor 50 will display a blank in window 17 whenever spring valve 51 is open.

As pointed out hereinabove, spring valve 51 is actuated by vacuum solenoid 52. Vacuum solenoid 52 comprises a body in the form of a cylinder which is considerably shorter than its diameter, said cylinder being closed at one end by a rigid partition. At the open end of cylindrical body 60 is located a movable, disc-like member 61 the outer periphery of which is fluid-tightly sealed to the open end of cylindrical body 60 by means of a flexible diaphragm 62. Thus, body 60, moving member 61, and diaphragm 62 coact to define a variable volume chamber. Two pipes, 63 and 64, are provided for communication with said variable volume chamber. Pipe 63 (as shown in FIGURE 5) includes a constriction 63 and communicates with a common source of vacuum which is designated V throughout FIGURE 5. Pipe 64 does not include a constriction, or includes a constriction of much larger minimum diameter than constriction 63, and communicates between said variable volume chamber and the common pipe with which four of the reading pipes 54 communicate, as shown in the lower portion of FIGURE 5-. Within the variable volume chamber of vacuum solenoid 52 is located a coil spring 65 which serves to urge movable member 61 into its position most remote from body 60, wherein diaphragm 62 is distended to its maximum. Movable member 61 is coupled to spring valve actuator 67 by means of linkage 66. Therefore, as shown in FIGURE 5, spring valve 51 is held open when movable member 61 is at its maximum displacement from body 60 due to the presence of ambient atmosphere within said variable volume chamber; and is closed when a vacuum is drawn within said variable volume chamber, thereby compressing spring 65 and drawing movable member 61 toward body 60, straightening, and thereby closing, spring valve 51.

As shown at the bottom of FIGURE 5, the eight reading pipes, 70 through 77, are divided into two groups, i.e., the group consisting of pipes 70 through 73, hereinafter called the number pipes, and the group consisting of pipes 74 through 77, hereinafter called the lockout pipes. None of the number pipes is in direct communication with any other one of the number pipes. Rather, each of the number pipes is connected by means of tubing to a corresponding port on the upper surface of logic block 53, these tubing interconnections being indicated by Roman numerals, and not shown, to avoid confusion. Thus, number pipe 70 has an I set at its upper end and an I is located at the third port from the left-hand end of the top surface of logic block 53, indicating that number pipe 70 is directly connected by tubing to said third port. Similarly, as indicated by II, number pipe 71 is directly connected by tubing to the sixth input port from the left in the top surface of logic block 53. Similar direct tubing interconnections are indicated by IV and VIII.

Lockout pipes 74 through 77, on the other hand, communicate in common with a single header pipe 78. Header pipe 78 is directly connected by means of tubing to pipe 64 of vacuum solenoid 52, as indicated by C adjacent the end of header pipe 78 and adjacent the outer end of pipe 64.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, perforated tape 56 is of the eight-channel variety, each one of the reading pipes 70 through 77 coacting with one channel thereof. It is assumed for purposes of this example that the code in which the tape 56 is perforated is one in which the four channels located to one side of sprocket holes 79 express all of the numerical digits in Binary-Coded Decimal form, the channels located on the other side of the sprocket holes being blank, i.e., imperforate, when a character perforated into the tape i a numerical character. Thus, the character perforated into the tape shown at the bottom of FIGURE 5 is a non-numerical character, and, as explained hereinbelow, the fact that this is a nonnumerical character causes transfestor 50 to manifest its blank indication as shown in the upper portion of FIG- URE 5.

Going now to logic block 53 as shown in the central portion of FIGURE 5, it may be seen that logic block 53 is composed of two laminae, or plates, 85 and 86, joined in fluid-tight fashion to the opposite sides of a diaphragm 87. Within logic block 53, formed by mating hollows in laminae 85 and 86, are four valves of the type generally shown and described in my copending United States patent application Ser. No. 542,497. As more particularly described in said United States patent application, each one of these valves 90 through 93 comprises a chamber, part of which is located in lamina 85 and part of which is located in lamina 86. A flexible sheet-like diaphragm member 87 is cemented between laminae 85 and 86 and so treated as to provide a domed, bi-stable bubble diaphragm in each valve 90 through 93, these domed, bi-stable bubble diaphragms being designated 901 through 93-1, respectively. Diaphragm 90-1 is shown in its upward, or unprimed, position wherein it blocks passage 1, or will do so when even a slight vacuum is drawn in the generally annular chamber formed by it and the cavity in lamina 85 which defines the upper half of valve chamber 90. By contrast, diaphragm 91-1 is shown in its downward, or primed, position, wherein it blocks, or is capable of blocking, pipe 2'. In each of the valves 90 through 93 the space above the diaphragm will hereinafter be referred to as the upper chamber, while the space below the diaphragm will be referred to as the lower chamber. It will be realized, of course, that the volumes of these upper and lower chambers are capable of considerable variation depending upon the primed or unprimed position of the diaphragm.

Referring now to the upper chamber of valve 90, it will be seen that three conduits provide interconnections with this upper chamber, viz, the 1 conduit, or passage, referred to hereinabove which is capable of being blocked by diaphragm 90-1 in its unprimed position; a left-hand conduit in direct communication with the same vacuum source V with which pipe 63 of vacuum solenoid 52 communicates; and a right-hand conduit, identified by I, which is in direct communication with number pipe 70 as explained hereinabove. Said left-hand and right-hand conduits both include a constriction, these constrictions being designated 90a and 9012, respectively. Conduit 1, which does not include a constriction, is directly connected by means, for instance, of flexible tubing, to the input pipe of transfestor 50 indicated by a line next to which is set the numeral 1.

Going to the lower chamber of valve 90, it may now be recognized that the central conduit 1' communicating therewith is, by similar convention, directly connected by tubing to the input pipe of transfestor 50 indicated by a line next to which is set the designation 1'. The left-hand conduit communicating with the lower chamber of valve 90 is directly connected to the common vacuum supply V, and includes a constriction 90c. The right-hand conduit communicating with the lower chamber of valve 90 is open to atmosphere at its outer end, as indicated by the letter A set thereat, and includes a constriction 90d.

Valves 91 through 93 are all equipped with similar conduits, as may be seen in FIGURE 5, these conduits having structure and function corresponding to the same conduits communicating with valve 90, rendering it unnecessary to describe them individually.

Operation of system of FIGURE 5 The operation of valves 90 through 93 is set out in detail in said United States patent application. For understanding of the system of FIGURE 5, however, it need merely be understood that constrictions 90c and 90d are of substantially equal flow impedance, while the flow impedance of constriction 90a is somewhat large than the equal flow impedances of 900 and 90d, and the flow impedance of constriction 90b is somewhat less than the equal flow impedances of constrictions 90c and 90d. Thus, when conduit I is closed off from ambient air by the web of tape 56 as shown in FIGURE 5, air is substantially prevented from entering the upper chamber of valve 90, and this upper chamber will be pumped down by common, continuously applied vacuum V through constriction a until diaphragm 90-1 is brought into its unprimed position, as also shown in FIGURE 5. On the other hand, when conduit II associated with valve 91 is maintained open by the presence of a perforation 5-5 at the open end of number pipe 71, as shown in FIGURE 5, air enters the upper chamber of valve 91 through constriction 91b. Since, as explained above, the flow impedance of constriction 91a is greater than the flow impedance of constriction 91b, the common, continuously operating vacuum source V will not be able to pump down the upper chamber of valve 91 as rapidly as air enters it, and, therefore, the pressure in the upper chamber of valve 91 will tend toward atmospheric. The lower chamber of valve 91, on the other hand, is evacuated by common vacuum source V by way of constriction 910 which, as pointed out above, is of equal flow impedance to that of constriction 91d. Thus, according to well-known laws of fluid dynamics, the lower chamber of valve 91 will tend to stabilize at a pressure half-way between atmospheric and that of supply vacuum V, because its associated constrictions 91c and 91d are substantially equal, while the pressure in the upper chamber of valve 91 will tend to stabilize at a level nearer atmospheric than the supply vacuum V level because constriction 91a associated with the supply vacuum V line has greater fiow impedance than the constriction 91b associated with line II leading to air via a perforation 55 in tape 56. The result is that the pressure in the upper chamber of valve 91 will rapidly become greater than the pressure in the lower chamber of valve 91, causing diaphragm 91-1 to snap to its primed position. The effect of the unblocking and blocking, respectively, of lines IV and VIII by a perforation 55, or the absence thereof, in tape 56 will cause diaphragm 92-1 and 93-1 to assume the positions shown in FIGURE 5 for the same reasons given above in connection with valves 91 and 90, respectively.

Thus, input pipes 1, 2, 4', and 8 of transfestor 50 will be blocked, or obturated, and input pipes 1, 2, 4, and 8 of transfestor 50 will be continuously evacuated, due to the positions of diaphragms 90-1 through 90-3 assumed under the control of the left-hand perforations 55 in tape 56. As explained hereinabove in connection with FIG- URES 1 through 4, the application of this permutation of vacua and obturations to the input pipes of transfestor 50 will cause the numeral 6 to be displayed in window 17.

However, since perforations in tape 56 are associated with lockout pipes 74 and 77, tubing line C is open to ail. Since tubing line C is open to air the chamber of vacuum solenoid 52 is open to air via pipe 64. Since pipe 64 is relatively unconstricted, while pipe 63 leading to common, continuously operating vacuum source V contains constriction 63', it follows that common vacuum source V cannot pump down the chamber of vacuum solenoid 52 as rapidly as air leaks into it via pipe 64, and atmospheric pressure rapidly comes to exist within the chamber of vacuum solenoid 52. Then, since the pressure on both sides of diaphragm 62 is equal, spring 65 is able to force movable member 61 downward, and thus, by means of linkage 66, and actuator 67, opens spring valve 51. It follows that, as explained in detail hereinabove, ambient air admitted to the variable volume compartment of transfestor 50 via vent pipe 22 overcomes any tendency toward evacuation of the variable volume chamber via the input pipes of transfestor 50, and the spring 38 (FIG- URE 4) is enabled to maintain piston 25 (FIGURE 4) in its home position, thereby causing a blank indication to be displayed in window 17 as shown in FIGURE 5.

As may now be understood by reference to FIGURE 6, transfestor 10 of FIGURE 4 may be controlled, if desired, by means of suitable permutations of electrical signals applied to input electrical lines e-1 through e-8' of 15 suitable solenoid valves 101 through 108. Each of these solenoid valves may have an output pipe connected, as by flexible tubing, to one of the input pipes 21 of transfestor 10, and all of the input pipes of these solenoid valves may be directly connected to the common pressure (i.e., vacuum) supply V, all as shown in FIGURE 6.

It will be appreciated that, by the above-described constructions, signal translating and manifesting apparatus may be provided which are capable of manifesting in one or more ways the identity of signals applied thereto in the form of permutations of pressures, including vacua, and obturations, said permutations of pressures and obturations being easily obtained from devices wellknown and available in the art, are capable at the same time of translating between numerical or alpha-numerical codes, both those formed according to simple, rational laws, such as Binary-Coded Decimal codes, and those arbitrary codes which require what is sometimes called lexicon translation, and are also capable of storing information by way of the identity of a previously selected one of a set of code characters. It will further be appreciated that the transfestor of the invention may be accommodated to accepting fluidic, electrical, or mechanical displacement inputs, may manifest its translated output by display, imprinting, or electrical or fluidic codes on a suitable plurality of output lines, and may be ganged in order to rapidly manifest or translate codes selected from .a large set, e.g., the approximately 50 to 60 codes usually found in alpha-numeric print-out devices, such as automatic typewriters.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efiiciently attained, and, since certain changes may be made in the above constructions Without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative only, and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the .generic :and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A signal translating and manifesting device comprising:

a first member containing a chamber;

a second member closely fitting within said chamber, slidable therewithin parallel to an axis, :and defining therewith a variable volume compartment in which may be maintained pressures different from that without said first member;

a set of ports passing through said first member, none of said ports lying on the same line parallel to said axis with any other of said ports;

a plurality of groups of ports passing through the closely fitting surface of said second member and communicating with said compartment, each of said groups having each of its ports in registration with one of the ports of said set when said second member is located at a predetermined position within said first member;

means for urging said second member toward a particular position within said first member;

means for successively applying signals consisting of permutations of pressures to the ports of said set, whereby said second member is successively moved to positions corresponding to said signals;

carrier means constrained to move with said second member and carrying symbol means corresponding to said signals;

and manifesting means associated with said carrier means for successively manifesting the symbols cor- 16 responding to the signals successively applied to said set of ports.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said manifesting means comprises a mask having an aperture in which the symbol means corresponding to a signal is exposed when said signal is applied to said set of ports.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said symbol means are types and said manifesting means comprises means for causing imprints of said types to be impressed upon a record medium.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said manifesting means comprises a plurality of valve means adapted to be operated by said symbol means.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 in which said valve means comprise conduits adapted to be blocked by said carrier means and unblocked by perforations therein.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said carrier means carries pluralities of different symbol means corresponding to single ones of said signals.

7. A device as claimed in claim 6 in which each of said pluralities includes an indicium and a type.

8. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said means for successively applyingsignals includes electrical means for producing permutations of pressures in accordance with corresponding permutations of electrical signals. 9. A signal translating and manifesting device comprising:

a cylinder;

a piston closely fitting within said cylinder, slidable therewithin parallel to an axis and at a fixed angular orientation with respect thereto, and defining therewith a variable volume compartment in which may be maintained pressures different from the pressure ltherewithout;

a set of input ports passing through the outer wall of said cylinder, none of said input ports lying on the same line parallel to said axis with any other of said input ports;

a plurality of groups of code ports passing through the outer surface of said piston and communicating with said compartment, each of said groups of code ports having each of its ports in registration with one of the input ports of said set when said piston is located at a corresponding predetermined position within said cylinder;

means for urging said piston toward a particular position within said cylinder;

means for successively applying signals consisting of permutations of non-ambient pressures and obturations to the input ports of said set, whereby said piston is successively moved to positions corresponding to said signals whereat none of said code ports is in registration with an input port to which a non-ambient pressure signal is supplied;

carrier means constrained to move with said piston and carrying symbol means corresponding to said signals;

and manifesting means associated with said carrier means for successively manifesting the symbols corresponding to the signals successively applied to said set of input ports.

10. A device as claimed in claim 9 in which said manifesting means comprises a mask having an aperture in which the symbol means corresponding to a signal is exposed when said signal is applied to said set of input ports.

11. A device as claimed in claim 9 in which said symbol means are types and said manifesting means comprises means for causing imprints of said [types to be impressed upon a record medium.

12. A device as claimed in claim 9 in which said manifesting means comprises a plurality of valve means adapted to be operated by said symbol means.

13. A device as claimed in claim 1'2 in which said valve means comprise conduits adapted to be blocked by said References Cited carrier means and unblocked by perforations therein.

14. A device as claimed in claim 9 in which said car- UNITED STATES PATENTS rier means carries pluralities of different symbol means 2,218,113 10/1940 Kleinschmidt 173 29 corresponding to single ones of said signals. 5

15. A device as claimed in claim 14 in which each of 1/1961 Luz et 235 201 X said pluralities includes an indicium and a type. 299 9,001 9/1961 Gross 346-33 16. A device as claimed in claim 9 in which said means I I for successively applying signals includes electrical means RICHARD WILKINSON, P r Examinerfor producing permutations of pressures in accordance with corresponding permutations of electrical signals. 10 HARTARY Assistant Exammer 

1. A SIGNAL TRANSLATING AND MANIFESTING DEVICE COMPRISING: A FIRST MEMBER CONTAINING A CHAMBER; A SECOND MEMBER CLOSELY FITTING WITHIN SAID CHAMBER, SLIDABLE THEREWITHIN PARALLEL TO AN AXIS, AND DEFINING THEREWITH A VARIABLE VOLUME COMPARTMENT IN WHICH MAY BE MAINTAINED PRESSURES DIFFERENT FROM THAT WITHOUT SAID FIRST MEMBER; A SET OF PORTS PASSING THROUGH SAID FIRST MEMBER, NONE OF SAID PORTS LYING ON THE SAME LINE PARALLEL TO SAID AXIS WITH ANY OTHER OF SAID PORTS; A PLURALITY OF GROUPS OF PORTS PASSING THROUGH THE CLOSELY FITTING SURFACE OF SAID SECOND MEMBER AND COMMUNICATING WITH SAID COMPARTMENT, EACH OF SAID GROUPS HAVING EACH OF ITS PORTS IN REGISTRATION WITH ONE OF THE PORTS OF SAID SET WHEN SAID SECOND MEMBER IS LOCATED AT A PREDETERMINED POSITION WITHIN SAID FIRST MEMBER; MEANS FOR URGING SAID SECOND MEMBER TOWARD A PARTICULAR POSITION WITHIN SAID FIRST MEMBER; MEANS FOR SUCCESSIVELY APPLYING SIGNALS CONSISTING OF PERMUTATIONS OF PRESSURES TO THE PORTS OF SAID SET, WHEREBY SAID SECOND MEMBER IS SUCCESSIVELY MOVED TO POSITIONS CORRESPONDING TO SAID SIGNALS; CARRIER MEANS CONSTRAINED TO MOVE WITH SAID SECOND MEMBER AND CARRYING SYMBOL MEANS CORRESPONDING TO SAID SIGNALS; AND MANIFESTING MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID CARRIER MEANS FOR SUCCESSIVELY MANIFESTING THE SYMBOLS CORRESPONDING TO THE SIGNALS SUCCESSIVELY APPLIED TO SAID SET OF PORTS. 